I don't disagree with you. Neither music nor movies have to be "realistic" for me to enjoy them. On the subject of music, I have quite a few DVD-A and SACD discs where instruments are mixed into surround channels.... and I enjoy those discs.

But I like them the way I like 3D movies: with a kind of "this is fun and different" attitude. Watching "Nemo" is fun and 3D...more fun than the original 2D version.

But I don't want to see Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List in 3D. The "gimmick feel" to it would, in my opinion, take away from the subtleties and dramatic experience of those movies in their original form.

Now, that doesn't mean that emphasizing a little girl's red dress or using selective focus or adding extra rumble to a train derailment doesn't add to the director's emphasis properly. But in the presentation of some movies, 3D just adds a layer of "gimmick" that you have to break through to get to the story, and having instruments all around you suspends the realism of having having a band in front of you.

As for the train scene, that probably came from me as well some time ago. The steam locomotive pulling into the station scene near the end of '3:10 to Yuma' was way over the top in the bass department. Steam locos at low speed just don't make that prodigious noise so it was completely out of place for me.

Movies don't have to be 'real'; however, for me, this disproportionate use of sound tracks often takes away from the movie experience as are visuals like the endless parade of cars that are flipped onto their roofs after running over hidden ramps. I guess that I'm too old to appreciate the excessive use of visual & sound effects that younger audiences seem to crave.

As for my SACD surround experiment, having the lead sax playing behind me was just not 'real'...

I should add that Concert DVD/BDs are generally really good in Surround. The rears provide hall reverb/reflections plus crowd sounds (sometimes to an annoying level) that can enhance the almost live concert experience. Thankfully the performers are heard mostly from the front sound stage where they should.

It's just studio recorded, audio only sources that don't do it for me if they are oddly mixed...